Strangeland

Art Cover
The picture was taken by Alex Lake, on the seafront at Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex (UK). This is a reference to the album track Sovereign Light Café, which pays homage
to the seafront café on Bexhill Parade where the band would meet as teenagers.
Consultancy Tourist has designed the cover. ‘We wanted the Strangeland sleeve to come across as quite familiar yet abstract at the same time. One of the band’s favourite images was a view of some apartmentsntaken from the shoreline, which was shot at first light when only one or two lights were visible in the apartments. To add to the surreal nature of the cover, some of the buildings either side were digitally retouched out.’ (Tourist creative director Rob Chenery, designweek.co.uk)
- You Are Young
- Silenced By The Night
- Disconnected
- Watch How You Go
- Sovereign Light Cafe
- On The Road
- The Starting Line
- Black Rain
- Neon River
- Day Will Come
- In Your Own Time
- Sea Fog
Date de sortie internationale : 7 mai 2012
Date de sortie USA/Canada : 7 mai 2012
Notes : L’album s’est classé n°1 des ventes au Royaume-Uni dès la première semaine.

VERSION DELUXE
Packaged in a hardback A4 size coffee table book, the Deluxe Box Set includes:
- Strangeland deluxe edition CD album.
- DVD featuring five live performances, album trailers and behind the scenes footage.
- The 20+ page book features exclusive photos from the making of the album, taken by Alex Lake.

SINGLE – SILENCED BY THE NIGHT
Tracklist :
- Silenced by the night
- Myth
Date de sortie : 13 mars 2012 ; 15 avril 2012 (UK)
Notes : Single sorti en téléchargement uniquement. « Myth » est également un titre présent sur les versions japonaises et Itune US de l’album.

SINGLE – DISCONNECTED
Tracklist :
- Disconnected
Date de sortie : 27 avril 2012 (Allemagne, Suisse et Autriche)
Notes : Single sorti en téléchargement uniquement

SINGLE – SOVEREIGN LIGHT CAFE
Tracklist :
- Sovereign light café
- Difficult Child
Date de sortie : 16 juillet 2012
Notes : Single sorti en téléchargement uniquement
Chansons
PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Fearful child have faith in brighter days Winter’s hand will freeze your heart again Lay down your load To all the things that you don’t know Fading light may make a fool of me Lay down your load Of all the things that you don’t know Oh-oh-oh… Cause you are young | A PROPOS The song title first appeared in Tim’s head as he simultaneously lost and found himself among a huge crowd of music lovers at Glastonbury. It was the realization that « you’re never too old to « This is quite a philosophical song. I think more than anything it’s a message to myself to try and stay young at heart. It definitely feels like a message to my daughter too, in places. And also from the beginning it always made me think of standing in a crowd at a festival, a huge mass of people united by a feeling of bliss and freedom, which are things that are most easily associated with being young – as you get older it gets harder to find that feeling, and I love the idea that music can lift us out of ourselves, make us forget our everyday troubles, make us feel young. I also think the line ‘You’ve got to bring some good into this world’ pretty much sums up my view of being a human being – I kind of feel that bringing some good into the world is about the best thing you can hope to do in life. I’d say it’s the reason we make music. » (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin In a city like mine, there’s no point in fighting | A PROPOS I had been watching Peter Bogdanovich’s fantastically inspiring documentary about Tom Petty, and I was interested in the way he often uses the same chord sequence over and over again, changing the melody over the top to make different sections (U2 do this a lot too!). Anyway, when you’re doing this intensive writing thing you have to grab at inspirations quickly so I thought I would try the repeating chord thing, and that became the hypnotic piano riff in Silenced By The Night. I think the pace of it instinctively made it feel like a ‘driving’ song, and I’ve always loved driving at night, so the verse lyrics came from that. I couldn’t find a phrase for the chorus and was running out of time, so I looked over the back of the piano and say a copy of Patrick Humphries’ biography of Nick Drake. I remembered a passage in it about how when people get very depressed things can seem utterly hopeless in the middle of the night, but then when the morning comes life seems a little more manageable again. So the idea of trying to make it through the night to the dawn became the chorus of the song. (Tim, keanemusic.com) |
PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Something’s crept in under our door Oooh ooh ooh I feel like I just don’t know you anymore Well I thought that love watched over this house Oooh ooh ooh I feel like I just don’t know you anymore There’s an invisible wall between us now I see the landscape change before my eyes I feel like I just don’t know you anymore There’s an invisible wall between us now There’s an invisible wall between us now | A PROPOS Tim wrote this track when he was driving up the West Coast of America. « I suspect it may have had its origins in some argument or other with my wife, but I can’t remember! But since that no doubt passed very quickly, I think the song has quite a jaunty feel to it, not too weighed down by its lyrical content! I think it’s quite Beatles-y in that respect – sad words with a very ‘happy’ melody. I like the imagery of a relationship being like a decrepit house, especially the line about boarding up the windows. » (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin The more we rush about, the less we do, I wish that I could be your journey’s end Just say you’ll watch how you go, I hope you know that you’re a graceful soul, Just say you’ll watch how you go, Just say you’ll watch how you go, Oooo, oooo, oooo, oooo, oooo, | A PROPOS « This was a bit of a breakthrough song for me, in that it’s a Tom recalled that the first time he heard this heroic ballad, after Tim sent it to him, he interpreted it as a bittersweet friendship song and wondered « if it was about me. » « But then, that’s a quality that Tim’s best songs have, » he added. « They feel personal to your situation, but then, when you take them out onto the road you realise that’s how everyone feels. » (Tom, RAM Entertainment)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin I’m going back to a time when we owned this town I didn’t know I was finding out how I’d be torn from you We’d go down to the rides on east parade, I’m begging you for some sign, but you’ve still got nothing to say Let’s go down to the rides on east parade, Let’s go down to the bandstand on the pier I wheel my bike off the train, Well, you got nothing to hide, you can’t change who you really are, Let’s go down to the rides on east parade, Let’s go down to the bandstand on the pier Sha la la la la la la dee lay, yeah, [* All the street names are in the village of Battle.] | A PROPOS This song finds Keane recalling their early days together when the then teenage trio were in the habit of strolling down the Bexhill seafront on England’s south coast and drinking tea at the Sovereign Light Café. « I had a sketch of the melody on a cassette and was listening to it on a flight into Mexico in 2009. I couldn’t come up with any words, but then I was sitting in a bus on the way from Sao Paulo airport to our hotel and suddenly the name of the old cafe on Bexhill seafront came into my head.
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Have you been feeling that pull? I had a dream of my own Your whole life lies ahead So when the sun is coming up and you go When the world’s laying you low And I would love it sometime If in your life you need a hand So when the sun is coming up and you go When the world’s laying you low Golden light lies ahead So when the sun is coming up and you go When the world’s laying you low So when the sun is coming up and you go When the world’s laying you low
| A PROPOS This song about ignoring fear of the unknown and going on an adventure. This is the last song I wrote for the album. It started off feeling a bit more country, but gradually got more and more energetic. It’s one of my favourites – I love the optimism of it. The feeling of being on an adventure, sleeping under the stars and so on is all stuff that I love – I had just been reading Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory. And I think it has some of the grace and acceptance that recur in Watch How You Go and In Your Own Time. It’s already a real highlight of the set when we play it live. (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin This town was a lovers’ stage, but now you can’t recognise You can’t find your bearings, you’re slipping into the ground Do you still believe in me after the things I’ve done? The ground is uneven, we stumble from day to day Drag your heart up to the starting line Each heart is a paper kite blown around by the breeze Some find it easy, some will never even know Drag your heart up to the starting line Girl I still believe in you, you’re too good to fall so low Drag your heart up to the starting line | A PROPOS « I like the idea of having to almost make a physical effort to get back on track sometimes,if you get really low or
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin I open my eyes, everything shines Red sky turning round, black rain falling down We came from the south to Lebanon shore Red sky turning round, black rain falling down You’d better hope that that’s enough | A PROPOS « This is a very impressionistic song, written very quickly and drawing on imagery from Ari Folman’s amazing animated movie Waltz With Bashir. Every album of ours has a song on it that talks about war, and on Strangeland this is the song. I feel the tone of the song, a bit like the movie, is more about trying to understand, and seeing things from a very human point of view – which is in keeping with the atmosphere of the album as a whole. It’s one of the pieces of music of which we’re most proud. » (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Well, you were happy where you were She said the neon on the river will light my way You hear a song that takes you back She said the neon on the river will light my way You stood still above the track She said the neon on the river will light my way | A PROPOS « When I was a teenager I went out with a girl who seemed to have so much confidence and had all these plans and dreams about seeing the world and doing lots of great stuff. Deep down I always felt too scared to go anywhere or do anything, a source of much shame to me. So I felt somewhat left behind. I think I’m still haunted by that feeling even now. But I’ve always loved being by the Thames, and seeing the lights of the City of London and the South Bank reflected in the water. » (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin The winter night has wrapped a rag around your eyes And stolen your sight Oh you seem so far away I hope you’ll find your way back someday I miss you, I miss you Some days set your world on fire And some days they sink like stones That’s when your heart will cry out Until your body is numb And the night will try to tempt you But the day will come We dream hard, we shoot high Sometimes our fingers graze the sky But we can’t hold on Some days set your world on fire And some days they sink like stones That’s when your heart will cry out Until your body is numb And the night will try to tempt you But the day will come Brother don’t hang your head Until your distance is run ‘Cause though it seems so far away You know the day will come Some days set your world on fire And some days they sink like stones That’s when your heart will cry out Until your body is numb And the night will try to tempt you But the day will come Brother don’t hang your head Until your distance is run Because though it seems so far away You know the day will come | A PROPOS « I started it in about 2005. The theme is similar to ‘Silenced By The Night,’ and it’s very uplifting and optimistic. I love the line ‘sometimes our fingers graze the sky but we can’t hold on.’ The theme of chasing a dream through life, trying to navigate the strange land your dreams lead you into, is the underlying theme of the record, and I think that line sums it up pretty nicely. » (Tim, keanemusic.com) |
PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin You’ve got nowhere to go In your own time Oh wouldn’t it be fine In your own time Things are going to change, you know In your own time | A PROPOS « I think the emotional content of this one is quite representative of the whole album – the story is basically ‘I’ve realized that I have no idea what’s going on in life, so I’m not going to judge anyone else!’ I feel it has an atmosphere of sympathy and grace. » (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin The sun bleeds in, Sea fog comes like a river I missed my turn, Sea fog comes like a river Sea fog rolling | A PROPOS Tim took inspiration « from the fogs that come rolling in off the English Channel down the valley where I live. » « Even on a sunny day you’ll look out of the window and suddenly you can’t see anything apart from blank mist. It’s spooky. » (…) Life is not that straightforward, it’s unpredictable and uncertain and painted in shades of grey rather than being simple black-and-white.(…) « The nagging feeling of ‘Is there somewhere I’m meant to be?’ is a feeling that I think haunts a lot of people as they get a little older, » he said, « and the feeling of being ‘rolled’ along by life is part of being human I think. » (Tim, keanemusic.com)
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Lover I remember Your tapes piled on the backseat Strangeland blind You drove across the border You threw your head back screaming Strangeland blind You wound the rope around me And now the things I’ve done to forget you Strangeland blind Strangeland dreams You give no time | A PROPOS
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Well you could write it in the dirt girl | A PROPOS
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin The boys are grinning from the photograph | A PROPOS
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin You’ve been watching dawn from the gutter | A PROPOS
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin You built it up brick by brick | A PROPOS
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PAROLES Rice-Oxley/Chaplin/Hughes/Quin Baby, I’ve been travelling so long | A PROPOS
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